The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany welcomes the EU Commission’s intention to allow Member States to introduce an industrial electricity price. The initiative, founded by the Association of the Internet Industry, is now calling on the German federal government to act swiftly and include data centres in the electricity price compensation scheme, as announced in the coalition agreement. If data centres were not included in the industrial electricity price, this would be catastrophic for the industry.
Since the German federal government has scrapped its previously promised reduction in electricity tax in the federal budget, operators would otherwise fall behind compared to other countries due to high energy costs. From the perspective of the initiative, the German Bundestag must now also exercise its right and pave the way for a strong digital budget.
Dr Béla Waldhauser, Spokesperson for the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, states:
“The fact that the EU Commission is giving the green light for the industrial electricity price is a strong signal from Brussels. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) must now follow through and swiftly implement the electricity price relief measures for data centres that was announced in the coalition agreement. As a growth engine for the entire economy, it is only logical that the industry is finally being considered in the industrial electricity price. Data centres not only help Germany as a business location to increase GDP, but also make an important contribution to digital sovereignty as well as AI. To continue leveraging this potential in the future, competitive electricity prices are needed. Due to the growing demand for computing power for AI, not only are the requirements for operators increasing, but also energy costs. Now that the German federal government has withdrawn its electricity tax reduction, it is up to the German Bundestag to counteract this. Otherwise, Germany apparently isn’t taking the AI transformation seriously enough.”
eco and the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany are calling for the criteria defined at the EU level to be adjusted to enable digital infrastructures to benefit from energy price relief. In order to ensure competitive electricity prices in international comparison, digital infrastructures must be included in the list of Guidelines on State Aid for Climate, Environmental Protection and Energy (KUEBLL / CEEAG). The German federal government should urgently push this forward as part of the adaptation of the state aid framework (CISAF), according to Waldhauser: “The current coordination on CISAF is a good opportunity that the German federal government must not let slip by if it wants to meet its goals in the coalition agreement and relieve the energy prices for data centres.”
